Roundpegg, the culture management company, recently released the results of a study on the relationship between diversity and inclusion on engagement, working with Nike. The results are compelling: highly diverse teams are 13 times more likely to be engaged than the least diverse teams.
The company had 555 participants, and found that with every 10% increase in diversity there was a 6% increase in engagement.
Inclusion has an even greater effect on engagement. As Brent Daily, the COO of Roundpegg, wrote in the report,
All of us are able to contribute more and have a desire to do so when we are able to be ourselves in the workplace. When we are comfortable throwing out thoughts and ideas without having to filter them prior.
Feeling included as a member of a team is one of the most critical element to engagement. This is not only borne out from the research here, but by decades of study looking at how well people fit their environment. The quantitative results show when people share common values with their manager, teammates and with the company they are far more engaged, perform better and stay longer.
The magnitude of the importance of inclusion is highlighted when reviewing the likelihood one is highly engaged when on a highly inclusive team versus one in the bottom quartile of inclusiveness – 82x more likely to be highly engaged. And more than twice as likely to be engaged versus those teams who are moderately inclusive.